IHG Group PESTEL Analysis

Political

In Asia, recently there have been many anti-government procession. For example, in Phnom Penh ,Cambodia. Ten of thousands of anti-government protesters march on Sunday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which is one of the nearly 30-year rule of authoritarian Prime minister Hun Sen launched the largest opposition activities. Cambodia political deadlock and protests ,to a certain extent by the unrest overshadowed by neighboring Thailand, where anti-government protesters gathered to block the elections and the establishments of a "people's committee" so they called a suspension period of democratic governance in the country . however ,for the tourist season in Thailand, political riots brought them a great deal of influence.

Recently ,the negotiations between EU and Vietnam has been very close attention, especially for apparel and footwear companies. Part of the reason is that people in the western country wore garments, many of which are produced in Vietnam. Another reason is that Vietnam's population recently reached 90 million, Due to the rapid growth in the proportion of young people in the population of this country, for clothing companies, it has become a very attractive growth market. However , the most intense controversially problem lies in the fashion industry continue to promote relaxation for the global "rule of the origin" approach. For goods entering the EU from Vietnam ,rules of the origin can make prices rise significantly. For example, clothing into EU need to bear 12% of the tariff, but if the garment considered to "made in Vietnam" , then the tariff is only 9.6%. For the hotel industry, we also need a lot of clothing, all this is from Asia country, because they have cheap labor, so high tariff will greatly increase hotel's spending.

Economic

GDP increased by 0.8% in the third quarter of 2013. The largest contribution to the increase came from the services sector, which increased by 0.7%. The increase in GDP followed growth of 0.7% in Q2 2013. In the latest quarter there was widespread growth, with increases in each of the four main aggregates. Output increased by 1.4% in agriculture, 0.5% in production,2.5% in construction, and 0.7% in services.

The 2.5% increase in construction contributed 0.15 percentage points to the increase in GDP. New work on private housing and private commercial were key contributors to this increase, and there was also growth in private housing repair and maintenance.

There was an upwards contribution from the production sector, which grew by 0.5% ,with manufacturing increasing by 0.9%.

Economic growth resumed towards the end of 2009, but at a slower rate the period prior to 2008, as demand was subdued by inflation outstripping nominal wage growth, leading to a fall in the real income of households. The services industries grew steadily, if slowly, during this period, activity in these industries is now slightly above the level previously seen in early 2008. By this growth, with continued long-term economic uncertainty-exacerbated by the euro area sovereign debt crisis-particularly affecting construction in 2012. Although there has been growth across all industrial groupings in 2013, activity in the production industries remains slightly below the trough recorded in 2009. The increase in GDP since then is overwhelmingly attributable to services.(source: Office for National Statistics)

Socio-Cultural

In the US, obesity become an urgent problem. Nearly 155 million U.S. adults are overweight or obese, which is roughly 35 pound over a healthy weight. Extra pounds put people at a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer, type 2 diabetes and a host of other health problems. So they decided to take actions. Obamacare requires most insurers to tackle obesity. It gives a new hope for heavy people. And for them, they are start to search a healthy lifestyle, they are take care more about food quality. It shows that in the hotel restaurant, their food quality becomes more important. It is not only about delicious, they are also need to take care whether it is health, and maybe organic ingredient becomes more popular.( USA Today 2013)

Technological

A growing number of hospitals in California and other states are using telepresence robots to expand access to medical specialists, especially in rural areas where there's a shortage of doctors.(abcNEWS,2013) In hotel, normally they are always lack of hands, in the future , this idea will very efficiency use in the hotel. Robuts will help waiters take care of guests any time.

Environmental

In fact, tourism and hospitality industry is closely linked. It means that tourism slump , hospitality slump. Recently, there are argument about poland's coal. Krakow is one of the most heavily polluted cities in all of Europe." When you look down this town, it is enveloping grey blanket. And all this is because of coal, Poland produces more than 85% of its electricity using coal, and its economy depends on continuing to use. Based on the current situation, it also influence Europe tourism industry. Because of poor air quality blocking the desire of people wanted to travel. On a long view, coal mining problems will speed up the global climate warming, and contributes to rising sea level around the world. For example, If the sea level rises this problem is not controlled, then the Maldives is facing possible inundation. Not to mention there's the development of the hotel industry.

Legal

In the US, it become legal for gay weddings in 15 states. In Hawaii, waiting for the governor to legalize same-sex marriage bill was signed into laws. So it provide more tourism chance for US, and it also stimulate hotel development, hotel can provide more honeymoon room or design more honeymoon theme room, and also can provide some promotion for them so that boost sales.